Solo Buceo in Cancun

[Spratman]

Yeah, Ben....keep telling yourself that! She owns you, mate!

I've seen it spelled the other way with an Y, however, it pronounces the same, so he didn't know the difference. I spent the entire week like Max, trying to remember his name. Also, if you keep it small, how are you going to afford that place beside Mark's?!

Oh yeah, but it has to be during a full moon. We had a freaking ride on the first night dive! I spent most of my time, trying to prevent my son from heading to Cuba. He was pretty shook, so he bailed on the second dive and I stayed topside with him. The moon was just coming out behind the clouds, and Isidro starts his, "MMMMUUUUHAHAHAHAHAHA!" I asked Angel if the chupacabras were out and did they go under water....He thought that was funny.

Anyway, diving with these guys is always an adventure above and below water. That is what makes for great dive vacations!

Jack

 

[Don Santini]

I am glad you had a good time at Mad but I really have to say that Manta Divers, is the best dive operation in Cancun. No questions asked if you want real good service go to Manta, if a boat captain is a cavern guide then who drives a boat.....The great thing about Manta is that they have the best cavern guide in the yucatan peninsula who is only a cavern instructor his name is Life and I maybe mispelling it but this guys cavern trip is just amazing and I am talking about the service provided by a knowledgable cave instructor. I never heard of Mad Divers but I went and looked and it seems that Mad is not a PADI shop. Live to Dive

 

[Spratman]

Just to answer a couple of your questions....

1) MAD is both PADI & SSI, Ben is cross-certified.

2) When Isidro is guiding caverns, Angel (DM), is driving the boat.

I've heard many good things about Manta, particularly Leif as a cavern\cave guide. One does not need to be a cave instructor to guide cavern dives, just a certified cave diver.

 

[ironworker377]

Just got back from Cancun and I dove with M.A.D. Very glad I took your guys advice and dived with them. They just happened to be set-up next door at the Royal Islander.

First Day was pretty bad for me as I was not ready for the swells and ended up getting real sick and even threw-up underwater Not a fun day.

Second day I was picked up by the very hot DM Maricela. Took plenty on meds to fight the sea sickness on this day. Arrive at the dock and realize that only two of us are going to have the boat to ourselves. How often would any other dive operation do something like that? We went to the Grampin site and seen lots of life down there and seen my first shark (nurse shark). I surfaced by myself after 50 mins due to the other guy having good airtime and came up about 100 yards from Isidro. He did not see me right away so I busted out my SMB and my whistle. Surprised during all my dives nobody really carry's an SMB and whistles with their own set-ups. I guess I looked weird to them with all my gear attached to my plate set-up. All in all I would say it was a good day.

Third day Alvaro took us out to Chac Mool Cenote. We where the first ones there and and had other groups show up after us. When we hit the the water there where 3 groups getting ready. When we finished and came back to the truck 2 of the groups where already drying off and setting up for the next dive. Alvaro was a great DM and tries to get the most out of the dive and told us most ops only keep you down for 30-40 mins max no matter how much air you have. We where down for 52 mins and came up a very over under a 3rd of the tank (1100 psi) like he says is the standard for cave diving. Cenotes are really something to dive at least once in your lifetime. Second dive was pretty interesting since the other diver followed the wrong group and turned left instead of right. Alvaro told me to wait where I was since I was close to the surface and he went to search for the lost diver. He found him right away since it was pretty obvious since we noticed him missing after we crossed the other group. We surfaced right after that with 40 mins of dive time.

Fourth day we was the wreck dive and was lead by Ben. We seen a grouper that had to be at least 4-5' big. We penetrated the wreck and that was something different for me since I never did something like that. That was a good dive. Second dive was the best dive of my trip in terms of life. Seen a nurse shark, moray eel, and a turtle feeding at the bottom and some of the biggest and most colorful parrot fish (at least 2') I have ever seen. Man you can totally hear those guys chewing up the coral.

Overall I really enjoyed my whole trip and will be going to dive with MAD again. I did notice on the other boats they had 10 or more divers on them and glad I dove with a boat with 2 and 5 instead of the 10+. Plus the MAD boat did look nicer then some of the ones I seen and it had way more shade then the others.

 

[pluard]

I just got back from Cancun and will also strongly recommend Mayan Aqua Dive.. If you want a very personalized professional experience Ben and his staff are what your looking for. I only had the chance to do one of the two dives I had scheduled since the weather was not co-operating but it was more than worth the wait.
Ben and his crew are fantastic. My objective was to "see some fish" on my first
caribbean dive and that is what I got. What am impressive sight to be sitting at the bottom of a reef watching a school of baraccuda and have a shark swim over your head.
As for the dive that was canceled do to weather, I have to say that I saw other boats going out in spite of the conditions and had even more respect for Ben and his crew who opted to cancel the dive for safety reasons instead of just collecting the cash and taking the chance. Wow. an operation that puts the divers safety and comfort ahead of the chance to make a buck, that is a class operation.
Feel free to PM if you want more info.
Lee